Chapter 194 - Damn Reincarnation

Spring of Light

SLASH!

Sergio’s hand split in two. No blood flowed, and the severed halves immediately joined back together.

There was no pain. Yet he felt as though a great nail were gouging out his heart. He was not so foolish that he failed to understand what Kristina’s words just now meant.

“You... How dare you!”

Sergio’s eyes blazed with vicious murderous intent.

Even more than the Hero’s fall, he could not accept Kristina’s rejection of sainthood. It was a denial of the very essence of her existence. It was like a human denying that they were human.

“Get out of my way!”

Sergio glared at Eugene and roared. Naturally, Eugene had no intention of moving. He felt Kristina flinch behind him. But she did not retreat. Steadying her ragged breathing, she tried to cast divine magic.

She wanted to help him. But Eugene shook his head and raised the Holy Sword. With a light backward push of his hand, he sent a small force nudging Kristina back.

“Just keep yourself safe.”

“But... But, Sir Eugene...!”

Kristina looked at him in dismay. Right now, she wanted to help him however she could. That desire was part of her ingrained fear. Eugene had told her it did not matter, but she struggled to imagine herself no longer being a saint. It hurt to confront the question of what value she would have then.

That was why she wanted to help. She wanted to prove that she was not worthless, that there was something she could do for him now.

Eugene shook his head.

“Don’t push yourself.”

“... Ah...”

“Just watch from there.”

Clutching her aching chest, Kristina watched his back. It was incomparably small beside the light Sergio was producing. Yet that vast, brilliant light could not get past Eugene. Seeing his shadow spread wide against the light behind him, she unconsciously closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, Eugene’s flames were eating into the light.

BOOM!

The ground shattered beneath his launching foot, and his body shot forward. Standing a short distance away, Sergio let out a wild scream and thrust both hands forward.

He intended to halt Eugene’s advance, but failed. With a thunderous crash, Sergio’s body flew backward.

Sergio glared at Eugene with wide eyes and extended his left hand. His body, shattered by the collision, was already regenerating.

WHIRR!

The red cloth unwound from his left arm, which hung limp with its bones crushed. It shot out and wrapped around the Holy Sword.

“O Light!”

Sergio shouted. The angels flying with him answered his desire and extended both hands. Brilliant light connected to the cloth, and the flames surrounding the Holy Sword began to be suppressed beneath it.

[“Sir Eugene! D-draw the Moonlight Sword!”]

Mer cried out in alarm from inside the cloak. She recognized the cloth as an artifact with tremendous magic-sealing power, and the divine spell Sergio had just cast as a powerful sealing spell.

No matter how strong Sergio’s seal was, the Moonlight Sword could smash through it entirely. There was no way Eugene did not know that.

He knew, and chose not to use it. He was certain to be called an idiot later, but he refused to yield.

He would use only the Holy Sword in this fight.

That was his resolve. Far behind him, Kristina let out a short scream.

The once-ferocious flames could not escape the tightly wound cloth. Once Sergio confirmed that the flames were sealed, he lunged at Eugene.

The stigmata on his right arm were already soaked in blood. The blood seeping out was no longer merely dripping; it was streaming down. Sergio clenched his blood-drenched hand.

WHOOSH!

Light burst from his hand, becoming hundreds of swords that surrounded Eugene.

[“Sir Eugene!”]

Mer screamed. Eugene’s eyes swept rapidly over his surroundings. There was no gap through which he could escape. The Holy Sword was wrapped in cloth, and its flames were sealed.

But he could feel that the flames had not gone out. The sword force created by the Ring Flame Formula had not faded; it writhed beneath the cloth. His lips twisted as he concentrated.

Hundreds of holy swords hurtled toward Eugene. That alone should have been enough, but Sergio did not prematurely assume victory. The angels opened their mouths and sang a hymn. Enormous hands of light appeared from the ground and sky. Following the onrushing swords, the four hands closed around Eugene.

CRACK.

The sound was very faint. Yet Sergio could not ignore it. A sound he should not have heard. A powerful premonition followed. An ominous terror raised goosebumps over his entire body. The unexpectedly imminent threshold of death forced him to choose.

‘If I keep going, I’ll die.’

Sergio did not dismiss that premonition. Just as he hurriedly stepped back...

Lightning exploded in every direction, with embers fluttering between the bolts. Sergio stared wide-eyed beyond the light and flames. The cloth, whose sealing power could fairly be called absolute, was being torn to shreds. The flames suppressed beneath it were far darker and more ominous than before.

The hundreds of swords rushing at Eugene were caught in the flames. Fire swallowed light. The four hands following them spread wide, trying to seize the entire space where Eugene stood, but they could not. The flames burst, and the hands scattered.

A trickle of blood ran from Eugene’s tightly closed mouth. He had turned the seal suppressing his flames to his advantage, compressing the mana that formed his sword force. Then he had layered sword force over it once more.

Three layers of Empty Sword. The increasingly numerous black spots were spreading. The sheer magnitude of its power made the hand gripping the Holy Sword tremble faintly. Wrapping his left hand around his trembling right, Eugene raised the sword over his head.

“Ah...!”

Kristina stared blankly at the Holy Sword.

Facing those flames head-on, Sergio’s shoulders shook.

“... The Holy Sword... How far will you go in defiling the Holy Sword...!”

Look at those flames. Their ominous light was impossible to believe an incarnation of Light. To Sergio, they were hideous and vile. Were they not utterly devoid of the warmth and brilliance that light and the Holy Sword ought to possess?

Trembling, Sergio extended his right hand. The angels stood behind him with their wings spread.

WHOOSH!

Strands of light wove together from his blood-drenched right arm, forming an enormous bow. Then a halo formed a brilliant arrow. The Bow of Light boasted power among the highest orders of divine magic. The light it fired ignored magical barriers and Aura Shields to pierce the very being behind them.

He looked at Eugene, standing with the Holy Sword, and Kristina behind him. If he fired now, Kristina would be caught in the attack too—unless she fled. Sergio glared at her with flashing eyes and shouted.

“Be purified!”

RUMBLE!

All the light in that space gathered at a single point.

Kristina felt its enormous power. Sergio expected her to flee in terror, but she did not. Instead, horrified, she ran toward Eugene to protect him from that savage attack.

The instant Sergio saw it, he fired the arrow in a fury that nearly drove him mad.

Eugene heard Kristina running up behind him. It was too late to tell her it was all right. In truth, he did not have to say it aloud.

The arrow hurtled toward him, its light seemingly burning his eyes. His lips twisted as he brought the Holy Sword down from above his head.

Three layers of Empty Sword. The spreading black spots exploded all at once. In that instant, black completely consumed the flames forming his sword force.

The arrow shattered. The light was annihilated without leaving even fragments behind. Light surged back at Sergio. The angels spread their wings around him, but even those wings burned. One after another, all three angels vanished.

A pitch-black line scored the space.

Kristina could run no farther and sank to the ground. An instant... It had all happened in an instant. Just as the light seemed about to engulf them, night suddenly fell.

Eugene stood in its midst. Unable to fully comprehend what had just happened, Kristina swallowed.

Sergio understood no more than she did. Darkness... had swept over him. Half his body had vanished. Only his upper body barely remained. Even that was a miracle of the stigmata. The light they emitted protected his right arm and half his body.

“... Khrr...”

He could not even speak. When he opened his mouth and breathed, only the sound of escaping air emerged. With difficulty, he lifted his head and looked ahead.

He saw Kristina, utterly unscathed. Her entranced eyes could not leave Eugene. At that sight, Sergio clenched his teeth.

That face.

With a face identical to Lady Anise the Faithful’s, how dare she.

He looked at his right arm, enveloped in light. The glow of the stigmata was far too small to illuminate that darkness...

He looked at the Holy Sword, which shed no light.

All of it filled him with despair.

At the same time, he felt a powerful sense of duty.

The candidate for sainthood’s ritual no longer mattered. In the first place, “that thing” could no longer even be called a candidate.

He was not certain they could create another candidate with such aptitude, such unity, such perfection. But was there not a tremendous flaw in her character, the very thing that truly mattered?

A miraculous... being.

When Kristina was first born, Sergio had been certain that the Light had granted a miracle. That certainty had been premature. Just as the Hero had fallen of his own accord, the candidate for sainthood had fallen of her own accord as well.

Then there was no choice but to begin everything anew. Kill the fallen Hero and recover the Holy Sword. Dispose of the fallen candidate for sainthood. Once he accomplished that, the Light would surely grant another miracle.

‘... They must be purified.’

If he failed to kill those devils and let them loose upon the world, something terrible was certain to happen. Sergio did not entertain the slightest doubt of that conviction.

‘... O Holy Spirit...’

He moved his creaking right arm and laid his hand upon his chest.

‘Dwell within my spirit and flesh.’

His blood-drenched fingers dug into his chest. The writhing stigmata traveled along them into his chest. This was the final miracle. Even the stigmata could not stand in for its price. Rather, it was a miracle that could only be performed by offering every part of his existence to them.

He would become a torch shining with light, devoid of self, but Sergio gladly embraced this martyrdom.

Light bloomed in the darkness.

The small light grew steadily larger. Stigmata spread over Sergio’s entire body. When they covered him completely, his flesh turned to light. He looked like an Incarnation of Light.

A beam pierced the darkness.

For the first time since arriving here, Eugene felt pain. He thought he had twisted aside just in time, but his left arm, caught in the light, hung in tatters. Without the protection of Agaroth’s Ring, that power would have torn his entire arm off or annihilated it.

Clicking his tongue, Eugene wrapped the Cloak of Darkness around himself. The light that had swept over his left arm—Sergio now stood high in the sky, a luminous mass in human form. His mere presence made the sky so bright it hardly seemed night.

“... Behold.”

Sergio looked down at Eugene and Kristina on the ground.

“This is the almighty Light. The power of God that illuminates the entire world. You fallen devils can never defile this light...!”

It was not worth answering. Eugene assessed the light Sergio emitted.

Three layers.

Could he annihilate him in a single stroke? Would it be enough to pierce the protection of the stigmata?

It was difficult to judge. That damned miracle defied reason far too completely.

If he drew the Moonlight Sword, which likewise defied reason...

‘Hamel.’

... Using the Moonlight Sword would defeat the purpose.

Refusing magic and other weapons, insisting upon the Holy Sword alone—

It was to lay souls to rest.

‘You are far too stubborn. Why insist on fighting that way?’

It was as though a voice whispered in his ear.

“Unlike you, I know when to draw the line.”

Eugene gave a faint chuckle and brought his mangled left hand to his chest.

“Right now, this is how it has to be.”

As Sergio’s had, his blood-drenched fingers dug into his chest. But Eugene did not pray or rely upon faith or light, hoping for a miracle. He offered only himself to kindle his flames.

THUMP.

Ignition sent his core into overdrive. Listening to his pounding heart, Eugene controlled his mana.

The wildly rampaging mana broke free of his regulation and formed a sixth star. A shiver ran through his entire body, and he smiled.

Six stars of the White Flame Formula. The situation did not allow him to leisurely contemplate the changes that brought. At his command, his abruptly swollen mana concentrated in the Holy Sword.

‘What is this?’

The weight of the air seemed to have changed. Sergio was now light itself, illuminating the sky, yet he felt as though he were slowly falling. An illusion. It could not be. He did not doubt the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in his body.

The light fell. It was as though the entire dazzling sky were collapsing. Eugene did not take his eyes off that wondrous sight.

Despite the brilliance of the light, Eugene saw everything clearly. The light that had been too fast for his eyes to follow was now perfectly visible.

If anything, it looked a little slow.

Ignition, activated at the White Flame Formula’s sixth-star stage, opened a vista of unfathomable distance to him.

“... Ha.”

With a dry laugh, Eugene raised his right arm.

“Good to see you again.”

It was not unfamiliar.

The Holy Sword, wrapped in blue-black flames, cleaved the sky.

Terrifying power shook Sergio’s consciousness. His body did not shatter. He was not thrown backward. This immense power was controlled to perfection. The slash erased only the “light.”

Thus Sergio’s body alone remained, stranded in the sky. He could not understand what had happened. Even so, he saw Eugene kick off the ground. The rapidly approaching gleam in Eugene’s eyes filled him with enormous dread. Belatedly opening his mouth to scream, he tried to get away.

He could not. Fierce flames blocked his retreat. Neither sun nor light remained in the sky behind him. Only the flames Eugene had produced existed there.

Expressionless, Eugene raised the Holy Sword.

There were no flames on its blade. What he held now was a beautiful ceremonial sword that hardly looked fit for actual combat. Nothing more.

With that unshining “sword,” Eugene pierced Sergio’s chest.

THUNK.

His heart was pierced. Sergio’s body jerked violently. Mouth gaping, he looked down at the Holy Sword through his chest.

His pierced heart was still beating.

Realizing that, Sergio smiled. He was not dead. In fact, Eugene’s approach had given him an opportunity.

Sergio spread his arms wide and reached toward Eugene. He intended to summon light once more and purify Eugene entirely.

A small light arose.

CRACK.

It was not Sergio’s light. It came from the sword piercing his heart.

“Ah...!”

Sergio hastily focused on his stigmata, but they did not produce the light they had before.

The Holy Sword’s light grew stronger. As it did, Sergio’s body crumbled. This could not be happening. Why the stigmata? Why was the Holy Sword, in that devil’s hands... emitting such brilliant, beautiful light?

“Th-the light...”

He stammered on. Eugene did not listen. Twisting the Holy Sword through his heart, he pulled it free. Sergio staggered back and clutched his chest. His lips moved soundlessly as he looked at Eugene, then looked down.

Seated on the ground, Kristina was staring up at the sky with wide eyes.

“... This cannot...”

Predictable words.

The swinging sword severed Sergio’s neck. Light swallowed his head. Spreading outward, it swallowed his body as well.

BOOM!

Like fireworks at a festival.

Sergio’s body exploded into countless embers. Turning his back on the scattered sparks raining down, Eugene descended.

Leaving the dispersing light behind, he slowly descended beside Kristina.

Night fell once more.

Kristina sat on the ground, unable to move. She still could not quite understand everything that had happened before her eyes. It all felt like a dream.

Certainly not a nightmare.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

Taking his hand from his chest, Eugene approached her.

Kristina tore her eyes from the night sky and turned to him.

“That I came to save you.”

Eugene gave her a broad, deliberate grin. His body was far from fine. His left arm was in tatters, his head hurt, and so did his heart.

But he could still move.

“... Ah...”

Kristina could not form proper words. Covering her mouth with both hands, she sobbed.

The sky was dark. Of course it was—it was night.

Yet to Kristina, the sky seemed so very bright now.

“... Ahh...”

Sobbing, Kristina bowed her head. She could not smile back. She wanted at least to show him something other than a crying face, but even that was beyond her control. She could not bring out a single one of the masks she had always worn since childhood.

So she simply cried. Hiding nothing, she let her tears flow with the emotions welling up inside her. Making sounds she herself found embarrassing, she cried with the same face she had worn as a child.

She cried so much that Eugene tentatively reached out to her. Merely watching felt awkward, so he had meant to wipe away some of her tears. But Kristina, wailing, suddenly caught his hand. Then, as though she had been waiting for it, she buried her face in his chest and poured out her tears.

“... Mm...”

His body hurt...

However briefly he had used it, Ignition’s backlash was by no means light. Every time Kristina rubbed her face against his chest as she cried, Eugene felt pain as though his muscles were tearing, his ribs were breaking, and his heart were being stabbed.

But he could hardly push her away when she was crying so heartbrokenly.

“... Ngh...”

Eugene clenched his teeth to keep himself from groaning.

And for quite a long time, he let Kristina cry against him.